From 6 to 7 March 2011 the Queen will pay a state visit to Oman. From 9 to 10 March she will pay a state visit to Qatar. On both visits she will be accompanied by the Pricne of Orange and Princess Máxima.

According to RTL the state visit to Oman has been cancelled. A decission about Qatar will be made by the government in the evening. It is the first time a Dutch outgoing state visit was cancelled due to political unrest.

HM Queen Beatrix and TRH The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima will travel to Oman after all despite protests in the country.
The Royal party has accepted a personal invitation by HM Sultan Qaboos for a private dinner on tuesday march 8th.This was announced by the Foreign Office this afternoon in a letter by the Minister to Parliament in an explanation on the State Visits to the nations on the Arabian Gulf.Good solution!

Yeah. Thanks lucien. Although I wouldn't want them to go anywhere that might be dangerous. (which could be anywhere really) I have been waiting for a state visit for a while, and the Dutch are always good fun!!!!!

The 'private' dinner is heavily critisized in the media and parlament. Oddly enough even more serious newspapers and programmes just seem to pretend that the Queen woke up one day and decided to go after all. In reality however she can not decide such things at all and it will be the ministers who decided this, mainly driven by economical factors.

I hope there will be NO pictures tonight. I am sure that they will be used by some republicans to portray Beatrix as the stubborn woman with too much power... and that it will be used to promote the Swedish form of monarchy. Now in this issue it seems that the politicians involved are either a) dumb or b) calculating liars, as it very obvious that this decision is the responsibility of the PM, not of the Queen. I suppose it could also be a combination of the two of course.

Pictures of the arrival of HM and TRH.Nothing wrong with this visit,the pretentious little people of a certain signature in Parliament apparently have nothing better to do then to ask what they could know if they pay attention better instead of revelling in the pluche.GL and a certain pain called JS have put this on the agenda.Again,it is not HM who decides in this,it is the government and only them.There is far more to this dinner then can be said right now.Really,there isn't mayhem except for some demo's,nothing to worry about and HM delivers to the requests of his people fast.Something "The Hague" might hold as an example to follow suit in many if not most cases!

As dear HJA put it on his Royalblog;"How can you see HM arrived privately??"...She doesn't wear a hat.And glasses.

I hope there will be NO pictures tonight. I am sure that they will be used by some republicans to portray Beatrix as the stubborn woman with too much power... and that it will be used to promote the Swedish form of monarchy.